The digital workplace has evolved. So has our understanding of mental wellbeing.
While the early days of lockdown were marked by sudden disruption, anxiety has not vanished with the easing of restrictions. It has simply changed shape. Today’s working world blends remote setups, hybrid teams and digital-first demands with persistent uncertainty and pressure.
Anxiety is a common affliction, and that’s not surprising. The modern world is much more demanding and complex than our brains were designed to handle. Pain is a symptom of a body in distress. Anxiety is a symptom of a mind in distress.
Anxiety, however, remains a signal – a symptom of a mind overwhelmed by expectations, interruptions and conflicting priorities. It’s important to recognise that anxiety is not a personal flaw. It’s a rational response to an overstimulated environment, especially one that asks us to be constantly connected, responsive and available.
In this blog I revisit this topic that I first explored during lockdown 2020.
13 Practical ways to tame your Anxiety
Here are 13 practical, grounded ways to tame anxiety in our current context – shaped for digital professionals, freelancers and hybrid workers who balance demands across physical and virtual spaces.
Reduce the intensity of your anxiety with these strategies:- Take some exercise. It doesn’t have to be a run. It could be a yoga on YouTube, a streamed exercise class, even out in your garden weeding. Exercise is an effective way to burn off that extra stress. It promotes that fab chemical, seratonin that helps make us feel more able to cope.
- Declutter your life. Clutter adds to anxiety. Tidy up your environment and notice how much better you feel. Start with the rooms and areas in which you spend the most time. If you are working from home then include your personal work space too. Because we know that COVID-19 is killed by soap and water, washing surfaces and steam cleaning (if you have a steamer) helps your mind understand that you are doing something positive.
- Declutter your brain. Take care of the things that are on your mind. Procrastination creates mental clutter and stress. Trying to remember things is challenging for your brain too. Make lists and use a calendar and alarms to ease the load on your poor brain.
- Spend time with your pet. Pets are great for reducing anxiety. Play on the floor with your cat. Take the dog for a walk. Sit and watch your fish.
- Think about something positive. You’re only anxious because you’re thinking about something that makes you anxious. Give yourself a break and think about something else for a while. Now is the time to turn off the television and stop watching the news. Schedule a time when you will listen to the news but don't keep it on all day.
- Change your diet. Your diet can have a negative impact on your stress levels. Play around with your food choices and find out what works for you. Now is the time to go find those things in the cupboard that you thought would be good and you've never eaten.
- Give yourself something to look forward to. It can be a great relief to have something positive to look forward to. It can be something as simple as making a dinner you love to scheduling facetime with a friend.
- Distract yourself. This is what bad habits are, distractions. However, not all distractions are bad habits. Read a good book. Re-watch your favorite movie.
- Find a solution. You can't find a cure for COVID-19 but you can find a solution to some of the other things that are worrying you and causing you anxiety. If you are missing your family, call them. If you are missing your friends, facetime them.
- Take slow, deep breaths. Your breathing naturally becomes shallow and faster when you’re stressed. You can counteract a lot of the physical symptoms of anxiety by just slowing down your breaths and increasing the depth.
- Play the name five things game. Bring your mind back to the present. Look around your environmentand name five things you see. Now, name five things you feel. For example,“I feel the pencil in my hand. It feels smooth and warm.” Try to name five things you hear; Smell the air and describe what you smell. Smell nearby objects until you’ve described five smells.
- Dance. Or sing. Or jump around. Do something you don’t normally do. Anything out of the ordinary can break your pattern and relieve some of your anxiety. Remember how as a child, you would dance around the house as though no one is watching - do it again. Close the blinds, put on your favourite track and just dance.
- Get help. It nothing seems to work, seek professional help.
Final Thoughts
Anxiety may be part of our environment, but it doesn't have to dominate your experience of work or life.
In this post-pandemic, hybrid-first world, it's not about eliminating anxiety entirely. It's about equipping yourself with tools, perspectives and boundaries that allow you to navigate it with confidence.
Remember: you don't need to fix everything. You only need to begin.
#DigitalWellbeing #RemoteWorkBalance #PostLockdownLiving
